Four nominees for energy secretary to consider

Four nominees for the president to consider.

Updated 6:55 pm, Saturday, February 9, 2013

Dr. Steven Chu is stepping down as energy secretary at the end of February. Chu's departure can't come soon enough to suit us.

Who should be next?

Someone who comprehends that, for the coming 50 years or so, this country will be relying mostly on fossil fuels to meet its economic and growing population needs.

Someone, unlike Chu, who "gets it" that we have the domestic resources in abundance to achieve that goal.

Someone with a fossil fuels background who understands all aspects of energy.

Someone who will do what's best for this country and our partners.

Someone who favors the export of liquefied natural gas.

Above all, someone who has President Obama's ear on energy and can help the rest of the country understand the huge benefits of fracking and natural gas from shale.

We recommend four nominees for the president's consideration:

• Bill White, former Houston mayor and deputy secretary of energy in the Clinton administration. White gets it. As a young staffer for former U.S. Rep Bob Krueger, D-Texas, White almost single-handedly wrote the legislation for deregulation of natural gas in the 1970s. White also has the right political bona fides to join the Obama administration.

• James Hackett, the board chair of Woodlands-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Let's not be afraid to reach out to industry.

Hackett has an unexcelled grasp of every aspect of the business, from exploration and production to finance and marketing and utility operation and regulation. He's "been there and done that."

• Daniel Yergin: The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Prize" has credentials that speak for themselves. His CERA Week program, held here annually about this time of the year, is one of the "must attend" events for elite thinkers in the energy field.

For decades, Dan Yergin has been the single most brilliant thinker on strategic energy topics. He would have instant standing publicly, politically and inside the industry.

As long as we're dreaming, we might suggest moving the Energy Department out of the political fog of Washington. To Houston, maybe?